Lift Up Your Eyes to The Fields: Part 2

John Chapter 4 and the Urgency of the Harvest

Bibles this morning, please turn with me to John chapter 4. Chapter 4, as we continue our series, lift up your eyes and look at the fields. I appreciate Sister Linda putting this title right here, right out of the Bible.

Thank you Sister Linda for this. Follow along, we've got the Scriptures here, and she also puts the Scripture reading in as well, and the orders of worship, and thank God for her gift in helping us here in this as well.

Well, as we continue to look at this, there's a great sense of urgency our Lord Jesus has here for His disciples, and it's a great sense of urgency that we should have as His disciples as we follow Him.

But what I'd like to do today is not necessarily exhaust all these Scriptures in which we're looking at. This will be a part two of this series of lift up your eyes and look at the fields, but primarily as we go through this, I want to focus in primarily on verse 34 today.

Verse 34, we'll look at others, what the Lord is saying to us, but verse 34 I believe is the heart of everything here, of what Jesus is saying, because His food is to do the will of the Father who sent Him, and to finish His work in which He did complete.

So keep that in mind as we look at our text. Let me read the text to you as we begin at verse 27, and I'd like to read it through verse 28. I'm going to read this, and there's much here, but primarily we want to look at verse 34 today.

He speaks of the whited harvest. He speaks about for us to take the blinders off and to look at the fields, but there's a harvest, and we need to have a sense of urgency that our Lord had. Hear the word of the living God.

Verse 27, and at this point His disciples came and they marveled that He talked with a woman, yet no one said, what do you seek, or why are you talking with her? And the woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men, come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did.

Could this be the Christ? And then they went out of the city and came to Him, and in the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But He said to them, I have food to eat of which you do not know.

Therefore the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought Him anything to eat? And Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest?

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life. Both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

For in this the saying is true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored. Others have labored and you have entered into their labors. Stop right there and let's bow before our Lord now and ask His blessing upon this time of worship as we hear from heaven.

Father, we do seek your face as the psalmist says, Lord, as we say that and pray that, my heart says, your face, O Lord, I seek. Father and our God, we once again are desperately in need of your help and your grace within this hour.

Lord, as the old hymn says, we need thee every hour. To add to it, we need you every second. We need you every moment we breathe. Because it's a matter of spiritual life or death. Help us, O God, to have the urgency that the Lord Jesus had in His heart.

Even though, Lord, we would never measure up to that, but Lord, by your blessed Holy Spirit, you can help us. Father, we need daily bread today. We need fresh bread. Not just concerning our physical needs, but our spiritual needs.

And we are needy. We are a needy people. And we are not in need of just your blessings, Lord, we are in need of yourself. We need you, O God. Our greatest need is yourself. As David cried out, Lord, in Psalm 42, as the deer pants for the water brook, so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night. While they continually say to me, where is your God? Lord, give us this wonderful delight, this desire within our heart.

Lord, I pray if anyone does not have this today, Lord, you can give them a new heart in regeneration by your Spirit. Lord, we pray that your blessed Holy Spirit now, by your grace, would give us this kind, this kind of spiritual thirst, this kind of spiritual hunger for yourself.

Grant it, dear Lord, I pray. In thy mercy and for thy honor. And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his sake. Amen. Amen. Verse 25 through verse 30 is basically, we see the conversion of the Samaritan woman.

We have looked at these verses and what a powerful conversion she had. She was totally, completely changed. In verse 25 through verse 26, it actually says, the woman said to him, speaking to Jesus, I know that the Messiah is coming who is called the Christ, the anointed one.

When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you and he. Now, in this introduction, as I was studying this, I could not help but notice a wonderful, wonderful quote in the Bible exposition commentary by Warren Wiersbe.

If you ever read Wiersbe, he just has a way to grab your attention because he was such a prolific writer, but he was a genuine man of God. He went home to be with the Lord not long ago, actually. He was in his 90s.

God blessed him with the longevity of life. And he was a speaker. I remember hearing him many times on Back to the Bible years ago. And he really blessed my heart and soul and my life as we, Teresa and myself and our children at that time were very young, but we'd listen to him.

And then, like I said, back to the Bible and he took us to the Bible and I praise God for his life. But this is what he said. About the Samaritan woman's conversion here, because this is really that it's all about the Lord Jesus Christ.

But this Samaritan woman is a very important part of the plan of God and how the Lord used her in a mighty way. Wiersbe says this. In spite of her ignorance, there was one truth, one truth. This woman did know the Messiah was coming.

The Messiah was coming and would reveal the secrets of hearts. Where did she learn this truth? Where did she learn this truth? Wiersbe says, we do not know. But that seed had lain buried in her heart until that very hour.

And now it was going to bear fruit. He goes on to say this. And you see where his track is. It's about fruit bearing. Our Lord's response to her statement was literally this in the original language. I that speak to thee, I am.

Because the Lord Jesus Christ is the I am. I love that. He dared to utter the holy name of God. And at this point, the woman put her faith in Jesus Christ and was converted. Immediately, she wanted to share her faith with others.

So she went into the village and told the man she had met the Christ. And when you consider how little spiritual truth. Listen to this now. When you consider how little spiritual truth this woman knew, her zeal and witness put us to shame.

But God used her simple testimony and many of the people came out to the well to meet Jesus. The rabbis said. It is better that the words of the law be burned than be delivered to a woman. But Jesus did not agree with that narrow prejudice.

Why did she leave her water pot when she hurried into the city? Well, for one thing, Wiersbe says, she had the living water within and was now satisfied. Also, she intended to come back and perhaps in the interim and the disciples and Jesus could use the vessel to satisfy their thirst.

Never thought of that. Gone were the racial barriers and battles that had existed before. They were gone. They were all one faith and love. This woman did not come to faith in Christ immediately. Jesus was patient with her.

Very patient. And in this, he sets a good example for us in our personal work. Certainly, she was the least likely prospect for salvation. Yet, yet, God used her to win an entire village. Amen. Praise God.

And you think of it. How soul searching is that for us today? As we hear these words of life from the word of God and hear this remarkable story of this conversion of this Samaritan woman that was a mixed breed and that was rejected in that day and very immoral.

Jesus crossed barriers and he broke them down. Christ came to change her life as he has come to change your life and my life for his good and for his glory. It's not about us. If a change takes place, it's about the glory of God.

And if you see this in the story, you see that the Samaritan woman brought glory to God by her witness, by her change. And she goes into the village and she takes the gospel and she says, what does she say in verse 29?

Come. There's the invitation. Come. Don't just hear my testimony, but see a man. Come and see a man. And by the way, in the translation that the man M is capital. Jesus is the capital M A N. He is the man who told me all things that I ever did.

Could this be the Christ? Powerful, powerful. And I love what we're to be says. She shames us by what little light she had in a short period of time, how she went into that village and told people about the Lord Jesus Christ.

They flocked to him and the droves. Well, we're so often blind, aren't we? To people's spiritual needs and their readiness to come to the Lord Jesus Christ that we are hindered thinking how these people are just so evil and so corrupt.

There's just no way that they could be changed. But I'm telling you, God can change him. This woman was the most unlikely person to be converted. But yet, look at how she was changed. Look at how she was transformed by the power of God and by Christ himself presenting to her living water.

We see in their lifestyle and sometimes hard attitudes that people we don't think will change for the glory of God and be converted. And we forget that God is able and even that God at times is willing, sad to say, to work powerfully in them when the time is right.

God help us and forgive us of our unbelief. Beloved, this story of the Samaritan woman's conversion is a great lesson about taking that all of us, including myself, that we would take off the blinders and know that there is nothing impossible with God.

Nothing's impossible. Matter of fact, God specializes in the impossibilities. I pray that it encourages you because I know all of us here has lost loved ones that we desire to see to come to the Lord and to repent of their sin.

And we pray, oh God, change their heart, change their lives, do a work in their life. Because we can't do it. We can be a conduit. We can be an instrument to take the message, to show them Christ's likeness as we should.

But only God can fix the heart. Only God can change the heart. Only God can create a new heart within us. So God help us. May we take off the blinders regarding the people around us. As we have seen here, the woman at the well, as our Lord Jesus speaks to her parched soul concerning living water.

And we see her story continues as it opens up a whole entire Samaritan village to faith and leads to a great revival as Jesus' band of disciples develop new eyes to see and look at the harvest field and for it is ripened and white to harvest.

Now that's the lesson that the Lord would have us to learn is about the whited harvest field. That we would open our eyes and see this. And that's what the Lord desires for us to see. Now verses 27 to 30 are actually transitional.

Let me read to you very quickly. We covered it and at this point, his disciples came and they marveled that he talked with the woman and yet no one said, what do you seek or why are you talking with her?

The woman then left her water pot, we looked at that, because she has now found satisfaction with the Lord Jesus Christ and living water. And then she went her way into the city and said to the men, come and see a man who told me all things that I ever did.

Could this be the Christ? And then they went out of the city and came to him. They came to Christ. And in the meantime, his disciples urged him saying, Rabbi, eat. Rabbi, eat. Now, let me stop right there.

The Samaritan woman reminds us of the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist. John the Baptist shouted out to his disciples what was his primary message. Don't look to me, behold the Lamb of God.

You see what he's doing? He's pointing people to Jesus. As the Samaritan woman did. Come see a man. John the Baptist was a man that was solely sent from God and he fulfilled his duty by pointing people to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He even said, I must decrease, he must increase. That should be the heart's desire of every minister and prayer and life. But also, as all believers should have that same goal as well as ministers of the Lord.

And in John 1 .36, and also the first disciples we looked at in the past, Andrew, what does it say about him? And it says, the first thing he did, he tells his brother, Simon Peter, about Jesus. The first thing, his brother.

So we see there that Andrew was a witness to those within his family closest to him. John 1 .41, that's basically that text. Also, Jesus speaks of Philip and Philip had to tell his friend about Nathaniel.

A man without guile, as Jesus said of him. So you see there the witness, those that are closest to us within our family, our circle, that we need to tell people about Christ. So it's all about the Messiah, it's all about Jesus here.

The story is not really focused on the Samaritan woman necessarily, even though she's in the story, but it's about Christ, isn't it? It's all about the Messiah. Come see a man who told me all things I ever did, could this be the Christ?

That's what we should be telling people, come see Christ, look at Him, behold the Lamb of God. Tell people about Jesus, about His great sacrifice. Every chance and every possible chance that God opens up.

Because this life is short, beloved. Verse 30, then they went out of the city and came to Him. They came to Him. And so we see the Samaritans begin to leave what they were doing in the town, in the village.

And they make their way to the well outside of the town, to hear Jesus, to go see Jesus. It's interesting here, as I was looking into this, in verse 30, both speaks of the verbs here, is the present tense suggesting the continual action.

It's a continuing action, just not a one-time action, it's a continual action. While Jesus is talking with His disciples, and talking about food and the white harvest field, there is a steady stream of people that's leaving the city and beginning to approach the Lord Jesus Christ.

Learning at the Feet of Jesus and the Meaning of His Food

Now, as we come to the very heart of this chapter, right here is very critical. It's where we need to really focus and listen and learn as a disciple. That's what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, isn't it?

It's to be a learner. I remember when I was in seminary, I remember somebody, I took a class, and some of these classes are wonderful. It's just, it's tools. Seminaries don't make preachers, folks. As Dr. Sequeira, as I mentioned this morning, was a wonderful example for myself.

He told a young minister, he said, God makes His men not in seminaries, he says, but in the desert. In the backside of the desert of affliction, suffering. But, in saying that, a disciple is not just a learner for a day or a week or a few years.

It's a lifetime journey of learning. And we must humble ourselves before God to learn. Well, we're here to worship, but we're here also to learn. And Jesus said this of Himself. He said, come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, I will give you rest for yourself.

He says, take my yoke upon you. And then He says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Come, He says, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. So we want to learn of, not about Christ, we want to learn from Christ, from His feet.

And if anything that this sermon can do for all of us, is to encourage us to go to Jesus and learn at His feet. That's my desire for you. And this is where I want to be, is the feet of Jesus, learning as Mary did, because she chose the best part.

The disciple is a lifetime learner of Christ. Now, verse 31 says this, in the meantime, or another translation says, meanwhile. While these people are coming, His disciples urged Him, urged the Lord, and they said this, Rabbi, eat.

It would seem like they were concerned for the physical food here. Even though they intended well for Jesus to eat physical food. But verse 32 says a great deal, but He said to them, I have food to eat, of which you do not know.

Now, underscore that. Now, what's He speaking of here? Is He speaking about physical food? I got something stashed in the back here that you don't know I'm eating of? No, He wasn't talking about physical food.

They were thinking about the physical, and that's a lesson. We are too physical. Now, there's a place for the body, of course. God's not against us feeding our body. Or we'd all starve to death in just a few days and die.

Give us this day our daily bread, coming physical food. And God is concerned about our physical needs.

Yes, He is.

But the primary focus is that we should be more concerned for the spiritual.

Than the physical.

This is the point that Jesus is really teaching His disciples. Because He desires for them to be more spiritually minded, seek those things which are above where Christ is at the right hand of the Father.

As Paul says in Colossians chapter 3 there, not on things of this earth. We're too earthly minded. We're too physical driven, aren't we? And there's a place for that again, but we must prioritize. And that's what Jesus is actually teaching these disciples.

Their priorities are out of line. How do we know this? Well, the disciples thought He was speaking of literal food and wondered where He got it. In verse 33, therefore, the disciples said to one another, notice verse 33, Has anyone brought him anything to eat?

Now this leads up to verse 34, and this is what I really want us to focus on because this is paramount. A matter of fact, there's a way I can exhaust this within just a few minutes. We could take days and Lord's days after days and do a whole series on this and still not exhaust it, we never will.

Because the Lord Jesus Christ talks about something so incredibly important here, we need to get it. Jesus explains to His disciples in verse 34, notice the text. What He's saying here is that doing the Father's will in this case is leading the woman to salvation.

The Samaritan woman was true nourishment for His soul. This is how Jesus got His nourishment.

What was it?

Verse 34, Jesus said to them, His disciples, My food, listen carefully, Jesus says, My food is to do, notice that word do, obedience. And He had perfect obedience, by the way. To do the will of Him, the will of the Father, who sent Me and to finish His work.

This was everything to the Lord Jesus Christ. This was what was in the forefront of His eyes, mind, His mind's eye, His heart, His passion, was to do the will of the Father. Because the Father sent Him, the Father sent Christ, the Father sent His only begotten Son into this world, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

And while the disciples were satisfied with the physical bread, Jesus was satisfied with the spiritual bread, which was accomplished in the Father's work. He was doing the Father's business. We see this in Christ's life, even in His early days, when He came and He supposedly, that He wandered away, but He was with the doctors and lawyers and Mary and Joseph became pretty upset.

They found Him in the temple teaching them. And even then He says, I must be about my Father's business. Roughly around 12 years of age. And we just have a small window of that. But what does that tell us about Christ?

Even then He was conscious of His mission from the Father. He knew He was sent from the Father for a specific mission. And Jesus is basically teaching His disciples here that this Samaritan woman's conversion was part of His mission.

This is His passion. This is the Father's passion. Because the Father sent Him into the world. His Father's will. His Father's business. Matter of fact, all the way through the scriptures you see in the gospels, I mean, you see, I must be about my Father's will.

Everything that I do, I do because of the Father. The Father. The Father. His Father's will. We speak about the will of God. The will of God is not a maze. The will of God is not something hidden. It's not a mystery.

It's very practical. It's in front of our eyes. We think sometimes we overcomplicate this. I struggled personally with this in my own life at one time. I didn't know where about God wanted me. And I was thinking about, Lord, where do you desire me to be?

And don't get me wrong, God's leading and guidance is another thing than the will of God. Don't get those two confused. We always want to pray that will be done, right? No matter what it is. But I think a lot of times we get confused that we put the will of God in a category of, well, is he leading me?

Is this his will?

Or does he want me here? Does he want me to have this job? Does he want me to speak to this person? Does he want me to do this or that or the other? And we forget that the will of God is right in front of our eyes and the way we should live.

It's very important. Phillips Brooks said this, Seek your life's nourishment in your life's work. Wiersbe once again says, The will of God ought to be a source of strength and satisfaction to the child of God, just as he sat down to a stupendous feast.

If what we are doing tears us down, Wiersbe says this, instead of what builds us up, then we may well question it is the will of God. Is it the will of God for us? Our Lord Jesus did not look at the Father's will as a heavy burden, beloved, or something distasteful.

Beloved, it was his delight. Another way we can understand God's will is God's desire. That's another word and that helps clear, that helped me out so much when I looked at it. Lord, what is your will?

And the more I read the scriptures, it is God's heart. It is God's desire. It's what God delights in. It's what God pours into. And you want to know God's will, beloved? Right here I point you to it. Know this book.

Know this Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, saturate your time and feast on the word of God. And God will show you his will right here. And by the way, God, if you question whatever is God's will, and you ask if this is the will of God in my life, see if it lines up with this.

Brother Keith mentioned it this morning. Is it chapter and verse? Does God say it? People could come to you say, ah, I got a vision for you. The Lord told me, run from that person. Amen? Don't pay, I got an amen over there.

Listen, God's will doesn't come. I heard a preacher once say this and I said, you got to be kidding me. I can't believe that you're saying this behind the pulpit. He says, oh, God speaks to me. Oh, yeah.

He says, I was sitting at my study looking out the window, a little carnal bird. That's God speaking to me. Now, don't get me wrong. God does speak in his creation, beloved.

He does.

That's his general revelation. But primarily his special revelation is the way God speaks to you. God doesn't necessarily come to through a bird and says, OK, through this bird, I'm talking to you. Well, sure, the birds sing of God's glory and their own language and they sing music and so forth.

Yes, creation speaks of God. But what I'm trying to say is, is that God necessarily telling me, giving me a sign? See, this is the thing. We seek for signs. We seek for fleeces. We seek, beloved, that is our lack of faith.

That is our unbelief. Everything we need is right here in this book. Line it with the word of God. Throw out superstition. Throw out nonsense that anyone would come to you and say, oh, yeah, this is God.

God said this. And if they ask that, if they say that, ask him. Give me chapter and verse. Give me chapter and verse. And if they somehow say I'm a prophet and I got something to say, well, again, whatever they prophesied doesn't line up with this.

Now, if I want to prophesy to you, I will say this. Verse 34, Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. I just prophesied to you some truth. And I know this is truth because the Lord Jesus Christ said it.

And this Bible is true. Because the Bible says of the Bible that every word of God is pure. And it goes forth and it does not return void. So you could count on it. What I just said and what I read from the text is God's word.

So just hold that before you. If anyone comes to you in the name of the Lord or says, thus saith the Lord, test it with scripture. Test it with scripture. The Bible says that. Test the spirits. And see whether they are of God.

And he talks about there's many antichrists that's going into the world. Many false teachers that will come to you and speak so-called what the Lord says. And if you notice, if you read in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, it talks about false shepherds that will come and say, thus saith the Lord, but the Lord did not send them.

Read the Bible. See if it lines up with God's word. So it's important. We need to know what the word of God and what the will of God says. Again, our Lord did not look at the Father's will as a heavy burden.

It was his very nourishment of his soul. And so it should be with us. So it should be with us. Doing the Father's will fed Christ. It fed him. He lived by it. Day by day as a shepherd. A man full of the Holy Spirit.

He was satisfied with it. Because he drew strength. And that's what he's saying. He says, I have food that you do not know of. What he's saying is, I draw nourishment from my Father by doing his will.

Deuteronomy 8 .3. Jesus quoted this in the temptation. While he was driven in the wilderness. Literally driven. The original says the Spirit of God led him in the wilderness. In Matthew chapter 4. After his baptism.

The Father spoke from heaven. When he came to John the Baptist. And basically said, baptize me. And John made the statement says, who am I to baptize you? I'm not even worthy to unlatch your shoelatches.

And Jesus says, suffer it to be so. To fulfill all righteousness. And he suffered him. And John the Baptist baptized the Messiah.

The Christ.

And he went into the waters. Now he went into the waters of baptism not because he was a sinner. God forbid. That's blasphemous. He was the Holy Son of God. He did this representing his people. He was representing his people.

To fulfill all righteousness. And when he went down. And then he came up. Out of the water. You know what the scripture says. At his baptism at the end of chapter 3 there. The Spirit of God descended upon him.

Like a dove. And the Father from heaven spoke. There's the Trinity folks. The Father from heaven spoke. And said, this is my beloved son. In whom I'm well pleased. And then. The Spirit of God. Is not a dove folks.

It came in a form of a dove. Gentleness. And great kindness. The Spirit of God is. And it came upon him. And then right after that. He goes into the wilderness. 40 days and 40 nights. The Spirit of God drove him in the wilderness.

Think of that. And then he became hungry. And what happened when he became hungry? That's when the tempter Satan came to him. In his weakest point. And this is a great lesson for all of us in temptation.

Because he will come to you in your weakest points at times. To tempt you to sin. And what does he tempt Jesus of? The first thing that liar says. If you be the son of God. Notice what he's saying. The Father just proclaimed from heaven.

This is my beloved son. In whom I'm well pleased. And what happens? Jesus comes back. How did he combat temptation? I like what Paul Washer says here folks. He says it wasn't just him quoting the Word of God.

Which is paramount. But it was his obedience. His perfect obedience. And obeying the Father. And then he just takes that sword of the Word of God. The Spirit of God. And just ramps it down Satan's throat.

And he quotes Deuteronomy 8 .3. The man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The full scripture says in Deuteronomy 8 .3.

So he humbled you.

I love that. Allowed you to hunger. And fed you with manna. Which you did not know. Nor did your fathers know. That he might make you know. That man shall not live by bread alone. Let me stop right there.

This is important. Did you catch that? Underscore that word alone. That means that God expects us obviously to work. If a man does not work he will not. What?

Eat.

God created work. God gave us an example of work. Six days. In Genesis. God worked. He spoke.

It happened.

He created. The sun, light, the stars. Everything there. And then even then on the sixth day. The crown of his creation was made. He created man. But you don't need to miss this. Work is important. But worship is more important.

You put your worship.

Before you work. And then in your work you worship.

You see what I'm saying? That's why the scripture says. Man shall not live by bread alone. Because physical bread. Men you're with me. You're the breadwinners right? I'm a breadwinner. You're a breadwinner.

Well the Lord gives us bread. Physical bread. But more important is the physical. Is the spiritual bread right? Man shall not live by bread alone. But man lives by what?

Every word.

I love that.

Don't you?

Not some words. Every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Every single word. Every word of God is pure. Every word is important. Now truly understand the meaning here. The depth of this great truth we need to see.

From John chapter 6. So please turn with me. To John chapter 6. We're going to go a few chapters. We're heading in this direction. And God willing we'll tackle this when we come upon it. This whole chapter 6 is a great lesson for all of us.

Jesus feeds the 5 ,000. They had spiritual needs. I mean yes they had spiritual needs. But they also had physical needs. And Jesus was concerned. If you look at verse 5. Jesus lifted up his eyes. Seeing the great multitude coming toward him.

He said to Philip. And Jesus knew the answer to this by the way. But he gives Philip the question. Where shall we buy bread that these may eat? Now right there as Jesus gives this question to one of his disciples.

There's a great lesson in this entire chapter folks. I don't have time to touch on all of it. But we're going to look up briefly. What is talking about physical bread and spiritual bread. And notice what verse 6 says.

I basically just paraphrased it for you. But this he said to test him. For he himself knew what he would do. Jesus has given him a test. Jesus has given Philip an exam. Philip answered him and says. Let's see how he does on this test.

He said 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them. There's thousands here by the way. Five thousand. And that every one of them may have a little. One of his disciples Andrew Simon Peter's brother said to him.

There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are they among so many. Jesus said make the people sit down. And here's the miracle.

Notice this.

Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down in the number about 5 ,000.

That tells us something.

The 5 ,000 here is just the men. That doesn't include the children and the women. So there's more than 5 ,000 as a whole. Jesus took the loaves. And when he had given thanks. He distributed them to the disciples.